Gomes' second walk-off of season propels Red Sox over Padres

Red Sox pick up eighth walk-off win of season

BOSTON -- The Red Sox have a thing for walk-off wins of late, especially Jonny Gomes, who hit his second walk-off home run of the season Wednesday night in the Red Sox' 2-1 win over the Padres. His pinch-hit, lead off home run in the bottom of the ninth landed in the front row of the Monster seats to give the Sox their eighth walk-off win of the season.

"Whether it is me or someone else, I'll tell you what, winning is fun," said Gomes. "Stuff like that is contagious and it seems like it is someone new nightly. ... I knew I hit it far enough, but that green wall can be tricky sometimes. I just hoped I had enough air under it to get out."

After a rough, 32-pitch, one run first inning, Jon Lester settled down and did not allow another run the rest of the night as he went seven innings allowing one run on six hits, while striking out five. Coming into the game his command was a cause for concern, but he allowed only one walk and threw 102 pitches, 71 for strikes. Junichi Tazawa relieved Lester and struck out the side in the eighth, before Koji Uehara pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up the win.

Trailing 1-0 in the fourth the Red Sox tied the game on an RBI double off the Green Monster from Jarrod Saltalamacchia which scored Mike Carp who had singled in the prior at-bat. Carp and Dustin Pedroia paced the offense with two hits apiece in the win, while Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 13 games.

The three-game series will conclude tomorrow afternoon (1:35, NESN) where Allen Webster will take to the mound for the Red Sox and the Padres will counter with Eric Stults.

What they'll be saying: Gomes certainly has a flair for the dramatic as he now has three pinch-hit home runs on the season, which is the most by a Red Sox since 1977 when Bernie Carbo also hit three. For Gomes it was his sixth career pinch-hit home run. All eight of the Red Sox' walk-off wins have come at home, which equates to 26.7 percent of their wins at home have come in walk-off fashion ... For Lester it was his first quality start since June 6. He really settled down after the rough first inning, retiring 13 of 15 hitters at one point. The one thing that continues to stand out for the left-hander is how many hits and runs he allows with two outs. The Padres got their run on three straight, two out singles in the first and five of their six hits off Lester came with two outs.